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News

BirdLife News are the most signification examples of BirdLife Partnership project from every corner of the globe. And it is the way the world’s biggest conservation Partnership talks with you about environmental emergencies and conservation successes.

We believe that our actions are providing both practical and sustainable solutions benefiting Nature and People.

Finding the nesting sites of the `lost then found' enigmatic Fiji and Beck's petrels is the aim of two linked projects getting underway in 2016. In order to ensure the protection and survival of these Critically Endangered birds we must know where they are nesting and raising young. Only then can we put in place protection of their habitat and ensure they are safe from predators like rats and cats. Recent experience in `finding' other petrel species gives hop that one of the big bird puzzles of the Pacific can be solved.

Building on the success of the Acteon & Gambier project, the next big operation being planned by BirdLife in the Pacific and its partners SOP Manu and Island Conservation is the restoration of up to 16 islands or islets in Marquesas Archipelago and at Rapa.

2015 was a big year for conservation in the Pacific. The year saw the completion of the Acteon & Gambier project in French Polynesia giving sanctuary to eight globally threatened and near threatened birds (5 of which are seabirds), two turtle and seventeen nationally threatened endemic plant species. New marine sanctuaries and reserve proposals in Palau, New Zealand and the Cook Islands supported by BirdLife partners. Across the Pacific partnership with BirdLife and with our other partners makes a real difference for nature.

Living only on the islands that give them their names, the Tahiti and Fatu Hiva Monarchs are two of the world's most endangered birds. Our heroes fighting to give them a future are the staff and volunteers of BirdLife French Polynesian Partner, SOP Manu. But if these birds are to survive, it is not just about protecting them from the invasive predators that kill their young. It requires a whole community effort working to save these iconic birds and restore their habitat. Involving local people and providing them with the necessary skills, as well as looking to help them develop sustainable incomes is all part of the `backstory' to nature conservation in the Pacific. These are the real challenges for the Pacific heroes of nature conservation working at the coal face!

The South African conservation community is mourning the loss of one of its most generous but modest and unassuming benefactors, Dr Roelof van der Merwe. Van der Merwe, a member of the private Charl van der Merwe Trust named after his late father that has donated tens of millions of rands to biodiversity conservation projects – especially those involving seabirds and other marine life – died unexpectedly in his sleep on 23 December. He was 57.

We are delighted to report that Turtle-doves have been found at two quarry projects, including three juveniles, so it is very likely that they were born on a CEMEX site this year thanks to a partnership with CEMEX and the RSPB.